About the GP Team

General Practitioners (GPs)

All patients are allocated a named GP upon registration. You are able to make an appointment with any GP or nurse but your ‘Named GP’ will take responsibility for the co-ordination of all appropriate services provided by the Practice and use their clinical judgement to ensure they are delivered to you where required.

Dr Ruth Hewitt (Partner)

BSc (Hons) MBBS Newcastle 1988 DRCOG DFSRH

Born in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, I graduated from Newcastle in 1983 in Agriculture & Environmental Science (my parents were farmers). Having met Dominic (my husband to be), I saw the light and graduated in Medicine in 1988!

Ever keen on an outdoor active lifestyle we headed for the Lake District and moved to Derbyshire in 1990. My first 15 years of GP partnership were spent in an inner city training practice. I joined Appletree Medical Practice as a Partner in September 2008, actively deciding on a lifestyle change of walking to work, avoiding inner city driving and enjoying the beautiful countryside at home and work.

My areas of clinical interests include diabetes, women’s health and dementia. I am the GP clinical lead for care homes within South Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

Dr Mark Browne (Partner)

MB ChB Manchester 1985 MRCGP FPCert
I was born in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, in 1961. I went to Manchester University to study medicine and qualified in 1985, carrying out hospital jobs in Manchester and Crewe. My GP training was in Clitheroe and I settled as a GP partner in Derby in 1989. My clinical interests are diabetes, hypertension, ischaemic heart disease, cardiovascular disease prevention, and minor surgery. I have been a director of the out-of-hours GP service; and from 2000 to 2010 I was the primary care clinical lead for diabetes in the city of Derby. I lead training of the GP registrars at Appletree, alongside Dr Sam Thomson.

After 21 years in a city practice, working in Duffield has given me a chance to put something back into a village that we lived in for over 20 years.

Dr David Regan (Partner)

MB ChB 2003 Leicester MRCGP
I was brought up in Brighouse, West Yorkshire and was the first person in my family to go to university. I graduated from Leicester University in 2003 after considering every speciality as a career and I realised I needed the variety that general practice brings. I did several jobs in Leicester as a junior doctor gathering experience and then worked in New Zealand for several months. I did my GP training in Derby, working at all of the hospitals and did my final year of training in Wirksworth. I qualified as a GP in 2009 and worked back home in Yorkshire before returning to Derbyshire to work in Duffield. I also work in rheumatology outpatients half a day a week to learn and bring skills back for the benefit of the practice.

Dr Helen Fenwick (Partner)

MB ChB 1998 Liverpool MRCGP, DRCOG, DFSRH
I went to medical school in Liverpool in 1993, having made the decision at the age of 9 that I was going to be a doctor! I stayed in Liverpool with my partner, Mark, where I did hospital jobs in surgery and orthopaedics. Following the birth of our first two children, we decided to move back to Derby to be near family, and I did my GP training in Chesterfield. After we had our younger two children, I started work for Derbyshire Health United (the out of hours service) and as part of that worked in a female prison. I also worked at Bradshaw Clinic in Derby in substance misuse and as a police surgeon.

Dr Samantha Thomson (Partner)

BMBS Nottingham 2007, MRCGP, DRCOG, DFSRH

Born in Doncaster, I graduated in 1996 from Leeds University having studied a BSc in Fuel and Combustion Science and an MSc in Environmental Pollution Control. I was then employed by Ford for 7 years as a Diesel Development Engineer. In 2003, I started the Nottingham University Graduate Entry Medicine course based in Derby, as I had always wanted to be a doctor and thought it was time I trained to be one! I completed my GP training in Derby, spending my final year here at Appletree. I spent some time in long term locum positions before settling at Appletree where I am a GP Registrar trainer alongside Dr Mark Browne. My clinical interests are women’s health, sexual health and mental health.

Dr Annalea Jennison (Partner)

BA Cambridge BMedSci BMBS Nottingham 2002 DFRSH DRCOG DCH MRCGP
I started out on my career path as a budding chemist, but after seeing the light one year on, swiftly changed to Experimental Psychology and on completion of this degree, then hot-footed it to Nottingham to study Medicine as a graduate.

I always knew I wanted to work in General Practice, and did my GP training in a gritty inner-city area in South East London, before heading to the more leafy suburbs of Notting Hill and Chiswick and now finally landing here in Duffield.

I am originally from Belper and went to school in Derby so it is good to return home to bring my two children up amongst the beautiful Derbyshire countryside.